Monday, 5 January 2015

Sooty Owl, Marbled Frogmouth and some delightful rainforest frogs were the highlights of an evening in Mapleton National Park in the Sunshine Coast hinterland.

Australian Little Bittern

Earlier, I headed off in the late afternoon with Susie Lycett and Fiona Anderson to Parklakes at Bli Bli, where the male Australian Little Bittern that has been around for a few weeks again showed well. It was on the first lake, closest to the Yandina-Bli Bli Road, where I've not seen it before. I managed to get close to the bird while it was in a classic bittern freeze-mode, doing a better job of looking like a stick that the image suggests.

Marbled Frogmouth

We headed up into the Blackall Range where the first of 4 Greater Gliders for the evening was spotted just after sunset. Two Sugar Gliders were also seen during the evening. Further along the road in Mapleton National Park, it didn't take much effort for a female Marbled Frogmouth to show at a favoured haunt for this species.

Australian Owlet-Nightjar

We also managed good views of an Australian Owlet-Nightjar after some effort.

Eastern Stony Creek Frog

Orange-eyed Tree Frog

Plenty of wet weather lately so great conditions for rainforest frogs. Good numbers of Eastern Stony Creek Frog (Litoria wilcoxii) were out and about, with the males brightly yellow-green and several pairs in amplexus. Nice to see quite a few Orange-eyed Tree-Frogs (Litoria chloris). Other frogs included large numbers of Great Barred River Frogs (Mixophyes fasciatus), Brown-striped Marsh-frog (Limnodynastes peronii), Eastern Sedge-Frog (Litoria fallax), Pearson's Tree-Frog (L. pearsoniana) and Peron's Tree Frog (Litoria peronii). Cane toads were surprisingly and pleasantly few in number up in the forest.

We moved further up the road and eventually tracked down a fine Sooty Owl roadside (first image in this post). This species is difficult in the Blackall Range, being easier to see in the nearby Conondale Range.

In other local critter news, pairs of both Lewin's Rail and Pale-vented Bush-hen have returned to one of their favoured haunts, at North Arm. Spotless Crakes have moved into both the small artificially created wetlands in the Coolum industrial estate.

Brush Cuckoo

In the home garden, cuckoos have been particularly conspicuous this summer, with large numbers of noisy Eastern Koels and plenty of Brush Cuckoos about.

ENVIRONMENTALISTS
have upped the ante over a Yandina Creek wetland site, pushing

for
the local, state or federal government to step in and acquire the
diverse land for

preservation so it is not used for agricultural
activity, such as grazing.

Local bird expert
Greg Roberts has submitted a report to Sunshine Coast Council

calling on it to acquire the
almost-200ha site under its environmental levy scheme.

He said the three
properties that made up the site, and adjoined existing

council-preserved land, were home to a plethora of rare and
endangered birds

- including the painted snipe - and a huge number of
migratory shore birds.

Mr Roberts described
the land as an area of national environmental significance.

"Developing
that area as a cattle farm would be disastrous, there's no doubt
about

that," Mr Roberts said. He also has approached the state
and federal environment

ministers.

A spokesman for
Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt said he was unaware of

any
proposals to develop the site, but if plans were submitted they would
be subject

to full environmental assessments, including obligations
under the Environmental

Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

According to a
council spokesman, however, there is no obligation on the landowners

to notify of any change of use on the land in the event it is to be
used for cattle farming,

given its rural zoning.

"All three lots
are in the rural zone under the Sunshine Coast Planning Scheme,"
the

council spokesman said.

"In this zone
both animal husbandry (which would include the grazing of cows) and

cropping (which would include cane growing) are self-assessable uses
and no material

change of use application or
environmental assessment is required."

Mr Roberts said he
could not understand how the former cane land, could be turned

into
cattle grazing land, given the designated wetlands there under the
council's

mapping.

Last week one of the
three land owners said he would need to meet the other two

owners
before making comment, and be willing to discuss the matter in the
new year.

COMMENT

The suggestion by the council that any future rural land use for the properties is "self-assessable" appears to be in conflict with the council's own planning regulations. Map overlays for the properties clearly identify significant areas of land as being designated native vegetation, wetlands or riparian protection. Council guidelines make it clear that such areas are supposed to be protected.

Yandina Creek Wetlands

LETTER FROM GREG HUNT, FEDERAL ENVIRONMENT MINISTER

The Hon Greg Hunt MP

Minister for the Environment

Parliament House, Canberra ACT 2600 Telephone (02) 6277 7920

December 24, 2014

Mr Greg Roberts

Dear Mr Roberts

I refer to your email of 14 December 2014 concerning a proposal by property owners to drainthe Yandina Creek Wetlands, on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland, and redevelop them forcattle grazing.

The Australian Government is committed to protecting and improving the conservation of Australia’sthreatened species and has a role in regulating actions that may impact on defined items of Australia’snatural and cultural heritage (called matters of ‘national environmental significance). These itemsare listed and protected under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (the Act) andinclude for example, listed species threatened at the national level, and certain migratory species,among others.Actions that are likely to have a significant impact on any of the matters protected by the Act require

consideration by the Australian Government. This is in addition to the normal assessment and approvalprocess administered by state and local governments.

I note your concerns in relation to this matter. I have asked the Compliance and Enforcement Branchof the Department of the Environment to examine whether the proposal is likely to impact on any matters protected by the Act and require referral to the Australian Government for consideration and, if so, to ensure that any such requirement is met.

Thank you for writing on this matter.

Yours sincerely

Greg Hunt

COMMENT

When told of the council's advice that a development application would not be neededfor plans to drain the wetlands and redevelop the area for cattle grazing,Greg Hunt advised me further:

The [Commonwealth legislation] applies on the basis of consequences.

If an action is likely to have a significant impact on a matter of national importance,then the Act will apply.

See here for the full report submitted to the Australian and Queenslandgovernments,